QUICK NOTE: Congratulations to Donna M! You have won an autographed book from Cindy Gerard’s Bodyguard series! Donna, please contact Janelle at: janelle @ janelledenison.com with your mailing address and what book you’d like from Cindy’s bodyguard series, (www.cindygerard.com) and I’ll forward the information to Cindy.
Saturday night, I attended my 25th high school reunion.
It was, as you can imagine, a lot of fun, a little surprising, and a whole lot nostalgic.
Well, to be honest, I didn’t actually “attend” the reunion. (Though Bruce and I did crash for the last half hour of it or so…lol!) I didn’t really want to go, but got strong-armed by an old pal. So I rented a suite in the hotel where the reunion was being held, then after it was over, invited about a dozen people up to the room. I had brought several bottles of wine and some hors d’oerves and we proceeded to party like it was 1983!
Anyway, we had a fantastic time. Those dozen people stayed in our room until 4a.m. Then it was down to the die-hards, including my three very best friends from high school, who stayed until 6. An all nighter (a loud one…yikes!) in a hotel room with Bruce and 3 of my dearest, oldest friends? What can I say except…I AM SO GLAD I WENT!
Seriously, time just seemed to disappear. We all stepped right back into the roles we’d had then and we were very silly and shared lots of stories (Umh, some of which I’d have preferred to forget… 
)
Thought I’d share a couple of “then/now” pics.
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Rick and I shared an avid love of performing and brought the house down once or twice. 
This one is not quite high school, but not long after that. Bruce and I hosted a “How To Host A Murder” dinner party. What a ball! I was an evil princess and my pal Kim was a reporter. (PS: Kim got me through Algebra II!)
Another one that wasn’t quite high school, but again, wasn’t long after since I got married at 21! Lori was my maid of honor…and my partner in many teenage crimes. 
And here we are today…just a teeny bit older but not terribly changed, right? :yikes:
Seriously–Kim has barely changed a bit!
A little less hair but that same fabulous personality!
Umh…this one was pushing close to 6am and several bottles of wine. 
And here are all four of us. Funny how the years just fell away…
How about you? Anybody else ever gone to a big reunion and reconnected with fabulous friends from the past who you haven’t seen in a while?
Leslie Kelly used to say she wanted to be a doctor when she grew up, but then she discovered Nancy Drew books. Being a flashlight-under-the-covers-nose-in-book reader throughout her childhood, she couldn’t think of anything else she’d rather do as an adult than continue to lose herself in fictional stories. Her real life marriage of 20 years to the man of her dreams is a constant reinforcement that happily-ever-afters really can happen…and that they’re worth writing about. Living in Maryland, Leslie spends her non-writing time laughing a lot with the above-mentioned romance hero and their three daughters. Though an author of more than thirty sexy, contemporary comedies, she has recently branched out to write dark romantic suspense under the pseudonym Leslie Parrish.
Destiny
Dirty Little Secrets
Once Upon A Valentine
Through The Night
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Good morning jungle buddies and :monkey :monkey :monkey :monkey friends…
Les, it sounds like you had a really great time…I love the then and now pics…
In answer to your question, I have never gone to a reunion, high school or college, and I am afraid to look at pics I took back then…I hope to attend one day though…maybe I can crash it like you did and just have a ball…
I am glad you got “strong-armed” into going…lol
Donna congrats on winning Cindy Gerard’s book…it looks like it will be a good one…I will have to start a new pile of tbrs soon…
Peace and love,
Paula R.
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How fun! Glad you met up with some old friends and had a little fun.
I enjoyed your pictures. Thanks for sharing!
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Congrats Donna! Enjoy the book.
Wow Leslie, it looks like a wonderful time. I’ve only been to my 10-yr reunion (the 20th is in 2010) and it was dsappointing, so I don’t plan on gong back for the next one. I think because the people I hung out with, my friends, weren’t there. People that I cared about have moved on, and we do keep in touch, just not as much as I’d like. Plus, I’m not the most social person in the world, and crowds exhaust me. Glad you had a great time though.
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Leslie, it looks like a good time was had by all! I have never gone to a high school reunion mainly because they usually have them in August and I grew up in Georgia! I don’t want to be anywhere near Georgia in the summer. I’m very spoiled after living in Colorado all these years. :giggle:
Have a great day everyone,
Cher
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HAPPY NEW YEAR CARLY!!!
Cher
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Congrats Donna!
I went to my 10 year reunion and it was pretty boring, so I don’t plan on going to my 20 next year. I really have lost touch with most of my friends from high school, so it’s not a big deal to me. However, Facebook has allowed me to find lots of my college friends and we are planning to get together pretty soon and I can’t wait.
Happy New Year Carly!
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Leslie is sounds like a great time. I didn’t go to my 10yr reunion, because I wasn’t interested in seeing anyone from school. LOL Of course, when my 20yr comes around I will be there just to see how everyone has changed.
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We had our 30th this year and I did go. For the most part I was very disappointed. Mainly because the ones who did show up, besides some of my friends, are the same group of witches that hung out together in HS. They sitll haven’t grown up. And at this point I doubt they will.
On the other hand, I did hook up with a couple of my geek friends who did come in from GA and CA for the weekend, which was really nice. Another one made a surprise visit- he is an actor, in Hollyweird, and came at the last second. One of those genuinely nice guys that everyone loves. We happened to be sitting at the bar, watching of all things, his latest commercial, and lamenting the fact that he wasn’t there. We turned around and there he was. It was like a bad tv show, honestly. It was too funny. I mean, really, the last time I saw him, he was holding my head over a toilet on New Year’s Eve.
Happy New Year Carly!!
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I went to my 10th reunion and it was just like high school, but everyone was holding a drink (same cliques, etc). A couple of weekends ago was my 20th and I didn’t go, but that is okay. I don’t really keep in touch with my high school friends. If I want to get in touch with them, I can via facebook (we have a site).
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How cool! I went to my 10 year reunion and that’s it. They had a 25th but I didn’t know it. One of my class mates died last fall and quite a few of us reconnected then. The class Pres said he was going to schedule a 25th but I didn’t hear anything about it so I don’t know if they ended up having it or not.
Unfortunately, I haven’t stayed in contact with any of the people I went to highschool with. I moved away right after I graduated, I seldom go back and when I do I’m just there to visit with my family so I’m not out and about to run into any of my old friends.
I’m glad you went and had such a great time!!
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I went to my 10th and it was a blast. My graduating class was small (just over 200) so we all knew each other and lots of people went. My 20th happened during an RWA conference, so I didn’t go. My 25th was just after my surgery, but it wasn’t that well attended. I see my friends from HS at least once a year, so that’s nice and I’ve reconnected with a few others on Facebook. My bff from high school’s husband now works for my parents, so I talk to her weekly and our daughters are great friends and have a sleepover this weekend. So it’s not so nostalgic for me, I guess! That’s the upside of living in a relatively small city.
Les, glad you had so much fun!!!
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Les, WHAT FUN! Thanks for sharing :) I love hearing about old HS reunions, and seeing pics!!!!!
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Congrats, DonnaM! Enjoy that book. It and Cindy’s others are on my Buy Now list.
I’ve attended a few high school and college reunions through the years but tend to skip them now. I’m one of the few who left the old home town and I don’t relate to them any more. College is much further away and there always seems to be other things to do with my time and money that are more fun – like RWA next summer!
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My 10th HS reunion is next year and I’m still debating whether or not to attend. I didn’t really have any friends at my school and the only people I keep in touch with who even went to my high school are friends of my brother, who graduated a year before I did. It’s because he keeps in touch with them that I even see them. The only person I’ve even talked to who graduated from high school with me is a classmate who attended the same college as I did. I hadn’t seen him since we graduated from college 5 years ago until we had our 5 year college reunion. I went to that, but only because it included a Rockies baseball game.
I will, however, be driving with my parents to San Francisco next week so they can attend my mother’s 35th HS class reunion. The majority of her extended family still lives out there so the trip serves a dual purpose for her.
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Thank you, Cher!
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Thanks for the Happy New Year, all!
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Hi everybody! I am in MAine with all the rain. Folliage is peaking here
and spectacular. First Happy New Year Carly! I LOVED…Lucky Charm!
I think you are still the only author I have actually read all your books but
I am close with Janelle too!
Leslie have never been to a reunion but it sure sounds like you had a blast.
Actually wish I had been here for Cindy’s appearance. I absolutely love
her books and will be rushing out today to find the new one and also Linda
Lael Miller has a new one out too I think.I have been reading most of LLM’s
back list and thoroughly enjoying them. Oh a new one I have read that
was different and worth the read was Vivi Ana’s new nocturne,Veiled Truth.
Zoey wants her walk so I have to get going.
Have 8 more days in Maine and then it’s back home for the winter.
Supposed to snow shower here Friday night. Geech where did the
summer go?
Did I say that? Oh my! :pray:
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Congrats Donna on your win! :flower4you:
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First of all, how exciting to find out I won a book of Cindy’s. Thank you so much. After saying that I had not read any of her books I find out that I did! Why haven’t I read more…? I have no idea. I’ll email Janelle. Again thanks, what a nice surprise when I clicked into Plotmonkeys today.
Leslie, thanks for sharing the pictures. I attended my 10th & 20th class reunions then they lost track of me! Why I don’t know it would have been very easy to track me down as I still have family in that area. Oh well! The 50th was this summer just before RWA. By the time I found out the dates I had already committed to RWA which was probably way more fun as I got to meet all the Plotmonkeys, Cher, Paula, Jill Shalvis and others. Loved the whole experience. None of my friends from high school have kept in touch and that is life, it moves on.
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You are all going to think I’ve lost my mind! I’m feeling that way myself at the moment! After looking through my list of books I’ve read I find that I have not read any of Cindy’s books but I have one in my TBR pile!! I’m looking forward to reading it and have no idea why I have let the book just sit there!!!
It is the first book in her Bodyguard series. I’m looking forward to reading it.
Thanks for all the good wishes on winning.
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Leslie, thanks for sharing the photos–that sounds like a great evening!! I dragged my husband with me to my 10th, and just skipped my 20th. My high school had a pretty big graduating class, and to be honest, I spent quite a bit of time at that 10th reunion feeling like I ought to recognize people but not and then feeling vaguely embarrassed and awkward. At this point, I figure I can see/get in touch with the few people I’d like to get back in touch with, so I’m not in a great hurry to spend a bunch of money to dress up and stand around feeling uncomfortable. SO glad you had an awesome time reconnecting, Leslie!
And congrats, Donna! Happy happy reading!
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Happy New Year Carly…I am so excited because my Lucky Charm came in the mail today. Amazon kept their promise yippee…now if only I could get my hands on Jules’ PT now too, that would be awesome…I hope that you have a wonderful day…
Peace and love,
Paula R.
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Leslie
Thanks for sharing the pics and glad you had a great time catching up.
My 25th was this Saturday also, but I didn’t attend
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Leslie, it looked like you had a blast with your friends. :)
My 10-year high school reunion was last December, but I didn’t attend. None of my friends and I were interested in going. Maybe I’ll change my mind about future reunions when more time has passed.
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Limecello, you lucky duck (or should I say, “spring chicken”)–think of how many years of romance reading lie ahead! Woohoo!!!
I’ll be hobbling off to dance class now, where I can hang out next to the young ‘uns who are still in high school :wink: